New breed of City dragon to enter The Den

A familiar City face is set for a small screen comeback as the Dragons’ Den judging panel sees a reshuffle. Theo Paphitis is out and former investment banker and venture capital fund manager Piers Linney is in.

Now joint chief executive of cloud service provider Outsourcery, Linney is no stranger to TV. In fact, his initiation into TV stardom came when he spent time in a Young Offenders Institution.

Not, The Capitalist hastens to add as an inmate, but as part of his role in Channel 4’s Secret Millionaire series where he went incognito to work with prisoners.

Linney, however, may not be able to wander the streets in disguise for much longer if he fulfils his aim of widening the appeal of Dragon’s Den to information economy entrepreneurs.